The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-05-29

name o. common sense has got into you. Jeemes
Cocker cried the irate spinster, throwing OH Ms
fabby hold.
He grabbed feebly at the fingers that had
clutched the ey-basket-I fancied IN the impulse
to fell him with it.
70. Betsey Crump. can't you onerstan' my
feelin'sl Wyit come to me at l o'clock last
night. when / heerd my clock strike. You re
one by yourself in your house, n m one y
myself in my house. Why can't US two hlfcn
Horseshoe made one-j'ined in heart N han's
Blest be the tie that bins. the hymn BOOK says.
It's 'cordin to Scripter, You KNOW. won you
have me- Miss Betsey? Please say yonil nave
me-"
Never in my life have 1 seen such another
countenance as bent upon the suitor WINE
he reeed off this extraordinary proposal. amaze
ment and spleen SO wrought upon and strove
within the auditor that blotches OF orange red
came out upon her face as If her complexion
had rusted in spots the original steel gray snow
ing between: her notrls dilated aud she literally
CRASHED her teeth upon the lnsensitlve wooer,
now turning the gnawed bandanna around In
hand to find unbitten corner ana grlnning
sheepishly.
"I-have-youw she spit the words out.
breathing audibiy between them. Wnat-un-
der-the-canopy-ever put that-nosio I ,n'G
reckon
Something too hot for utteranco seemed to get
in the way of further speech.
Jeemes resumed, drawiingly with superior
smile at feminine obtuseness and coquetry:
wy, you sect happened this way I've
knowed fur right smart while that twas hign
time | was gIttin' another Partner, Amanda De-
in deceased nigh on TO six mont. Shed Deen
deliket for SO long that cogitated or the SUD-
jock for two or three years. In fact stuck up
she had that spell o. fever you remem Der. But
with all this, when l come cross the her
talk the matter over with you to-day, L
couldn't say my mind was fyariy made up
It's quite a step f. man to take you know. Ia
thought some o. Miss Betsey Winston. on count
O. her bein' we'll off. n easy to git long with
An thar times Id a notion o Mrs W addeii.
Shes right pretty, even now, an rus-rate
housekeeper-
IAN there's Betsey Jones! Don't for PHYS
sake leave her out of your calkerlations" sneered
his lady-lova
Nav! she wouldn' do. nohow t ALL said
Jeemes positively. She's too ole, n porely,
and pore, You know Nav" In burst OF manly
my head but tn others did, long a-you, as L
was a-sayin', n twas head m tails. as You
moueht say, tween you three when come up to
your po'ch an looked in at the do. M thar
see them three ladies a sleepin, sixteen to the
dozen, right in the middle OF the day! Jes' s if
thar wsrn't no knittin' nor sewin. nor keepin'
house, nor follern up niggers. nor lookin' arfter
chickens nor nothin' to be done!
'Thenr-attempting an ogle, frustrated by
the recalctrant eyeballs, which stayed out of
sight so long gave them up for LOST ketched
sight o. YOU a-trampin' long in the stable-yard,
a-scodin the niger men like thunder. n a
slappin' the horses to make EN- stan roun' In the
stalls SOS you mought look in the hangers n a
shooin' the chickens out o. the gyarden Eve
mought o Paradize, ez you mought
say. n 1 knowed in a minute by the way my
that that ar peart angel of woman was jes'
brim full O. congeniaity. Now. Miss Betsey,
people O. your age amt got no time to spark.
'Thout no foolin' nor beggin'-won't you please.
m arm, set the weddlngdayW
do not believe he meant to kiss her, but the
peroration brought his face near hers that
she may have thought SO. In the twinkling of
power and slapped him on both tallowy cheeks.
Take that and that for your sassiness!" she
epluttered, as he reel ,s his eyes bllging, his
When Jeemeses river runs up hill. an the
Almighty puts brains into heads where
they don't grow naturally When you
get to have sense. an
get to be raring. charging out-n-out. ripsnort-
er of born fool. Go long home an stop to
look in the graveyard to see if the teeny of
wit you buried with your wife has sprouted yet.
Wedding-day! IA ch-ch"
The confounded wooer retreated with more
alacrity than had imagined him capable OF.
sham bling over the hills of young corn, skirting
wheat and tobacco fields. and clambering
fences in a bee-ine for home, never once looking
behind him.
Miss Betsey sat down on a log at the root of
my tree, quvering with agitation.
II nights we'll have taken nap with the rest
of EN-" she said aloud Like most people who :
live much of the time alone. she had fallen into
the habit of solioouy. "Ef Jeemes Cooke is
what get by keeping awakel Well, can't say
any more that no man ever looked at me like he
wanted to marry me. Ugn-n! And I've waited
fifty one years for this.
To my horror and dismay she burst into a
storm of tears. l supposed then that she was
only very angry. Now, wonder what chord of
genuine womanhood, lax and unswept for over
score of years. grew at that instant tense and
vibrant; what secret door was Jared open by
the shock of the courtship, Civ
ing her glimpse of the Eden she
could never enter. Did she pity envy
the sleeping trio in the great old house
where she reigned in solitary sovereignty Feel
that the widow, in the memory of one happy
year of welded life; the quaint. shy aunt who
had no individuality apart from her boisterous
nephews; even the homeless pauper who had
once believed herself to be beloved by her be-
trothed husband-that each and all of these had
known and lived a life. ignorance of which beg
CARED herf
While 1 sat, trembling and conscience stricken
on my perch, ashamed that had seen her weep
the slow, great drops that seemed to heave up
her heart with them, she began TO laugh hyster-
ically.
'Courted over the pig pen!' she chuckled, sob
bingly. He found congeniaity herel must
say"-risinc to look at the porcine sybarites. one
of whom actually lifted his head to return her
glance by a swinish Ieer-"I must say that it is
q tough joke on the Berkshires"